My husband and I have been foster parents to my niece since July of 08. She actually has been in our care for longer but officially that is when it started. She will be a year old next month. Her parents are both in trouble for drugs. The dad has five felonies against him one of which is child endangerment. He goes to court on Feb 3rd of this year. The mom is 17 and has run away from her child twice that the cops know of but actually it has been three times. All of which the child has been our care. The mother has been tested for drugs each time and each timea it has shown positive for drug use. These two kids (the dad is 20) have been given chance after chance to straighten up so they can have their baby back, buthave chosen not to. The social services has put these to in an out patient treatment which is a joke! I was wondering if my husband and I have a chance of taking their parental rights away so we can adopt the little girl. The only 'Mom" she has ever known is me. She does see her parents but they don't even try with her? They don't even buy her anything. The dad's parents buy her formula and my husband and I do all the rest. Thank You

Amy

You need to talk to a lawyer in your area about your options. If you are already a foster parent, you may need to contact child Services and see what rules they have about adopting a child you are fostering.

The only time you (or the state) can take away someone's parental rights is if they are a danger to the child, and have proven so, usually more than once.

You may want to go with the option of trying to get the biological parents to voluntarily sign their rights over with the stipulation that you can adopt.

But you will want to consult with a Family Law Attorney to find out what your BEST options are.

Thank You I will The dad does have a child endangerment charge against him already but it's like the social services forgets this. The still let the dad have visits! Crazy!